Applications to build sink in downturn June 6, 2010 APPLICATIONS for permission to build new commercial property developments plunged sharply over the past year, as a number of high-profile developers succumbed to the downturn and demand for office and retail space faltered. In the past year, 21,729 commercial property planning applications were lodged in England, down 15 per cent from 25,600 the previous year, [...]
Helical says profits will double in 2011 and 2012 June 3, 2010 COMMERCIAL property company Helical Bar expects to double its after-tax profit in both 2011 and 2012 and anticipates spending £150m on acquisitions next year. Chief executive Michael Slade said yesterday he expected Helical, which posted an after-tax profit of £9.6m for the year to the end of March, to earn £20m or more after tax [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 3, 2010 Deloitte The business advisory firm has appointed Vince Niblett as the new global leader of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s audit and enterprise risk services practice. Niblett originally joined Deloitte in 1980 and has since been seconded to a number of assignments across the globe, including posts in Australia, Luxembourg, the Middle East and South America. He [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 1, 2010 Hermes The asset manager has appointed Chris Goudie as an executive director for global business development and chief executive of Hermes Fund Managers in North America. Goudie joins from Pyramis Global Advisers, the fund management firm he helped to establish for Fidelity. Hermes has also hired Heiko Dahse, pictured, and Marcus Money-Chappelle from Fischer Francis [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA TOLD PROPERTY RISK IS WORSE THAN IN US The problems in China’s housing market are more severe than those in the US before the financial crisis because they combine a potential bubble with the risk of social discontent, according to an adviser to the Chinese central bank. Li Daokui, a professor at [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 26, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES APPLE, HP AND DELL INVESTIGATE FOXCONN AFTER SPATE OF SUICIDES Apple, Dell and HP, three of the world’s largest IT companies, said yesterday they were investigating working conditions at Foxconn after a series of suicides at the huge factory in southern China where Foxconn makes electronic goods. Nine workers at Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant, [...]
Shaftesbury sees West End rents rise May 26, 2010 PROPERTY group Shaftesbury yesterday said tourists travelling to London had not been put off by the economic woes of the Eurozone, as it announced a 14.3 per cent jump in net asset value for the first half of the year. “Although the outlook for the UK and European economies remains uncertain, London’s West End is [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 25, 2010 Electra Private Equity Electra has appointed Colette Bowe as chairman after three years on the board. Bowe, an economist, began her career at the Department of Trade and Industry and then became chief executive of the Personal Investment Authority and chairman of European asset management at Robert Fleming. She is currently a board member at [...]
City: cuts are a good first step May 24, 2010 BUSINESSES applauded George Osborne’s decision to wield the axe on Whitehall spending yesterday, but warned the £6.2bn of savings were a drop in the ocean compared to deeper cuts on the horizon. The chancellor won praise for his decision to begin belt-tightening early, as he announced he was scrapping the Child Trust Fund, pulling the [...]